"Do you have any last words, traitor?" A deep, authoritative male voice resonated, blending with the terrifying sound of rain and thunder.
"Execute him."
"Execution! Traitorous bastards like him deserve to be executed."
"Who would've thought the hero would betray humanity?"
"Exactly, he's just trash! He betrayed the trust of all humans."
A young man, whose charm could only be described as heavenly, was tied to the execution post in front of millions, much like how Christ was bound to the cross.
"Ah... well, I didn't expect this," his voice was low and raspy, blood flowing from every pore of his body like rivers.
"Are these your last words?" The same deep male voice resonated again.
"Why? What did I do?" He barely lifted his head and, with torn eyes, looked at his friend—or at least the one he once considered a friend.
He couldn't believe it. Why? What had he done? Among all the endless possibilities, he never expected to be killed by his own friends.
"Being too powerful is a sin, my dear," before the man could answer, a heavenly female voice spoke.
"I see... fear, huh? Fear is truly terrifying. I can understand your feelings... well, I guess I can't. But why you? You had no reason to fear." The hero looked at the woman he once loved, one of the most beautiful and powerful women in the world.
Looking into her eyes, her gaze was completely indifferent. Perhaps, deep down, he had already known.
"I hate you. You know, people always said, 'Look at her; she's the hero's woman. She only got to where she is because of the hero, blah blah.'"
"Those words tormented me. I wanted to be praised for who I was. I wanted to be worshipped for my own achievements, not for being the hero's woman."
"And finally, I had the chance. Collaborating with the Four Catastrophes, and look now—everyone worships me for being myself."
"Ha-ha." The hero, Antonius, laughed. He laughed from the bottom of his heart. These weren't laughs of joy. No, they were laughs of pain.
The woman he loved, the woman he would've died for, the woman for whom he had slaughtered more than half of the continent of Fasdin over a single tear, had betrayed him for something like this?
Maybe it was just him who couldn't understand the thoughts of the woman he loved. Maybe something that didn't matter at all to him was her greatest pain.
But betrayal? No reason or excuse could justify betrayal.
"Finally gone mad, huh?" Another voice was heard.
"He was always crazy. Oh no, sorry, he was always a proud and arrogant fool." This time, it was the turn of the five to laugh.
Antonius couldn't even respond to their insults. His core was completely destroyed, his authority gone, even his titles sealed.
He was literally paralyzed. The only reason he was still alive was thanks to his soul and body, which had almost reached the peak of this world.
He turned his head and stared at the man standing next to his former fiancée.
"What's your reason? You know, you were my best friend, at least I thought so. I can't think of any reason for you."
"Me? I was just helping my childhood friend." He smiled as he looked at Athena.
"I see, you always loved her... Now that everyone's confessing, let me make a confession too... I knew from the beginning that you loved her. But guess what? I didn't care at all. I wanted Athena, and I got her. You wanted to fuck her, didn't you? Unfortunately, that 250 grams of flesh ended up with me..."
"You bastard!" He punched him in the stomach, completely crushing his liver and intestines, causing a bucketful of blood to gush from his mouth.
"I'll kill you with my own hands!" The murderous intent radiating from him was immense.
"That's enough playing with him. He's already been humiliated enough," Athena said coldly.
"Athena's right. We should kill him quickly. His luck is absurdly high."
"No problem. I'll finish him."
"No! He's mine. Only I have the right to kill him," Athena's voice was completely serious. It was clear she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Of course, of course." No one dared to reject her either. Besides, Athena herself was the strongest, and right after her was her loyal dog.
"Heh, so I'm going to be killed by my lover? How poetic," Antonius said with a tone full of hatred as he tried to endure the pain he felt in every atom of his being.
"Ugh... it hurts, it hurts, damn it. So this is the feeling those bastards had after I killed them, huh?" The light in his eyes slowly started to fade to black.
"Live a good life," Athena ripped out his heart from his chest. Unlike a human heart, this one was glowing with light, and the essence of divinity could be felt within it.
Antonius faintly heard her last words, but he couldn't comprehend them, not that it mattered to him anymore.
His head dropped, the flame of his life extinguished. In the last minutes of his life, he didn't even try to struggle, knowing it was futile.
Was this the end? His old friends had removed all possibilities, ensuring that a monster like him wouldn't survive or reincarnate.
'Or maybe... no one knew his secret.'
"He's dead."
"Who would've thought? The legendary Hero King, destroyer of the Three Catastrophes, standing alone at the level of the Corrupted Priest, actually executed by us?"
"Haha, right? That's a huge achievement! We need to make sure no one forgets this."
"He's dead, it's over. The more important issue is the division of power among humanity."
"Those families are trying to limit us."
"Haha, limit us? Just look at the millions of people cheering for us for executing their hero."
"We are now humanity's champions. We have the church's support. From now on, we are the superpowers of this world!" All five of them gazed at humanity.
In their eyes, this humanity was nothing more than a bunch of puppets to be played with however they pleased.
For instance, they had killed humanity's greatest hero, the Hero King, and yet humanity supported them...